Profile

• BA (Hons) (Dunelm)
• Called to the Bar 2001
• Member of FLBA
• Member of ALC
• Recommended by UK Legal 500
• Undertakes Public Access Work

Francis Wilkinson has a busy family law practice. It encompasses child care work for local authorities and private clients, contact and residence proceedings with jurisdictional issues, but he specialises particularly in ancillary relief and the division of the property of cohabitants who separate. He appears regularly in the High Court and in County Courts.

PARTICULAR SPECIALISMS

Francis has particular experience in the following areas:

• trusts of land involving cohabitants and others. He was instructed throughout in the case of Stack v Dowden [2007] UKHL 17 in which the House of Lords decided how the homes of separating cohabitants should be divided between them.
• 'shaken baby' cases in which he is instructed by local authorities.

When not involved in more major cases he continues to represent clients in the full range of family law hearings.

OTHER EXPERIENCE

Having achieved a very senior position in the public sector prior to qualifying for the Bar, Francis has wide experience of public speaking. He has spoken professionally on subjects including child care law and procedure, the law of domestic violence and trusts of land for cohabitants. He has published articles on marital contracts and the Land Registration Rules as they affect ancillary relief. Francis also provides professional online training in family law through Jordans. Outside his work at the Bar he has a particular interest in the reform of the law on drugs.